Friday, October 13, 2006

Montevallo Ghost Stories

A new weekly blog, In Anticipation of Halloween

(Written by Audrey Powers, a former librarian here at Montevallo)

The buildings of our quiet campus sit stately marking the years of progress, but inside the halls of academia, spirits lurk casting an ever-present eye on the day-to-day activities. Many students pay no attention to the ghouls in UM buildings, but beware, for they do exist.

One of the oldest of UM's supernatural tales involves Reynolds Hall, that ghostly white building next to Main Hall. For it is in that building that Captain Reynolds, a Confederate Civil War officer, still maintains his tireless watch. Reynolds Hall, formerly a Civil War hospital, housed sick and wounded Confederate troops during the war between the states. Captain Henry Clay Reynolds, for whom the building is now named, was allegedly in charge of guarding the building from Union soldiers. Hearing of a planned attack on the nearby Brier Field Iron Works, Captain Reynolds left his post to fight the invaders in Brier Field. In his absence, according to tales, Sherman's soldiers massacred the men in the unguarded hospital. When Captain Reynolds returned, his guilt led him to pledge never to leave the building again, not even after his death.

In recent years, the Captain's ghost has appeared on more than one occasion as a blue figure of a man. He followed a student late one night, and moved a painting of himself in the building's lobby.